Beiyang 1917

The good news at the end of April 1918 was that apart from the signing of the "Sino-Japanese Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Assistance and Alliance", China, through the improvement of its own strength, surrendered without a fight, and took advantage of the great situation that the European War was in full swing to hold back the hands and feet of Britain and France, and took back South Korea in one go. In addition to the Manchurian Railway, Guandong Prefecture, Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, all concessions were abolished, and foreign nationals in China would no longer enjoy privileges, and of course, they would no longer be discriminated against.

In addition, the newly developed FR-18 reconnaissance fighter-bomber produced by Zhonghua Aircraft Factory in April has undergone extensive testing and optimization. The landing gear has been redesigned to be retractable, and all rivets It is changed to a built-in, smooth body surface design, which further improves the acceleration and hovering performance of the fr-18!

By the end of April, the FR-4, the first all-metal skin monoplane military aircraft independently developed by China, was formally finalized for production. The monthly production capacity is 18.

Of course, the production capacity of the Zhonghua Aircraft Factory is not a little bit behind the 40 Il-2 produced by the Soviet Union and Russia a day in Wang Geng's previous World War II. One of the important aircraft manufacturers.

The construction of the aviation team of the participating army was the top priority of Wang Geng's army. He wanted to build an air force that could play a huge role on the Russian Eastern Front. The Zhonghua Aircraft Manufacturing Company officially finalized the production of the FR-1918 two-seater at the end of April 4. In addition to the combat reconnaissance bomber, the design and development of the all-metal heavy bomber BC-18 began at the same time.

The bc-18 will be redesigned and improved on the basis of the original Handley Page 0400 heavy bomber. It will also be changed from a double-wing wooden-skinned wing to an aluminum-alloy metal-skinned single-chassis single-wing twin-engine aircraft. This aircraft The retractable landing gear and built-in rivet technology will also be used, and the performance of the whole machine will be greatly improved on the basis of the original Handley Page 0400.

In fact, the sketch drawn by Wang Geng for Wang Zhu and Bayuzao is the Japanese Type 30 land attack aircraft in his previous life. Of course, the horsepower of the aircraft engine at this moment is still far from the thousands of horsepower of the engine in the 30s. There is a huge gap, but in Wang Geng's previous life, Japan's Type [-] land attack was one of the best bombers in the world in the [-]s.

The BC-18 was essentially designed by Wang Geng as a medium-sized long-range twin-engine bomber, with a large-area, high-aspect-ratio cantilever trapezoidal anti-center single wing mounted on a streamlined fuselage.Two domestic "Eagle VIII" V12 liquid-cooled aircraft engines are installed on the wings in a figure-eight tilt.

When Wang Zhu asked why such a design was made, Wang Geng couldn't think of it for a while, but Bayuzao patted his head and said, this design is good, and it can prevent the yaw when the single engine stops.

Since the maximum power of the Eagle VIII engine is only 375 horsepower, the fuselage design of the bc-18 in the sketch is slender. The small window on the belly measures the route.There are large blister-shaped gun turrets on the upper and sides of the fuselage, equipped with air-cooled Browning heavy machine guns or large-caliber machine guns that have just been finalized in the United States.

The unique "small tail capacity" style is considered in the beautiful double vertical tail design, and the first three-point retractable landing gear is adopted in the world's military aircraft.

The specific design parameters of the bc-18 attack bomber are as follows:

Members: 4 person

Wing area: 75m2

Own weight: 3400kg

Maximum take-off weight: 6200kg

Maximum speed: 220km/h

Endurance distance: -< >-m

Practical ceiling: 5500m

Engine: 2x domestic "Eagle VIII" v12 liquid-cooled aircraft engine, 375 horsepower

arms:

Front: Browning air-cooled heavy machine gun x2, rear fuselage Browning air-cooled heavy machine gun x3

炸弹：30x50kgor12x-< >-gor6x250k

or1x800 kg mk9 improved aviation torpedo

Due to the bc-18's all-metal-skinned single-chassis design, plus the retractable landing gear and the streamlined fuselage with embedded rivets, the maximum flight speed of this twin-engine medium bomber has jumped to 220 kilometers per hour, which is comparable to It is called the fastest bomber flying in this era.The combat radius has also jumped to 880 kilometers!And the bomb loading capacity of tons is 18 times more than that of fr-5!

The bc-18 in design will become the fastest attack bomber flying in 1918. When the improved 18-inch mk9 torpedo is mounted under the belly, it will become an unscrupulous and strong killer. The torpedo used by the US military in 1918 The main one is the 21-inch mk10, which weighs 1000 kilograms, while the British 18-inch mk9 prototype torpedo weighs only 450 kilograms. It is obviously a bit powerless to use it to attack capital ships.

As a result of Wang Geng's discussion with Zhu Erdian, the design drawings and production equipment of the mk9 torpedo were transferred from the British Whitehead Company, but the warhead charge and propellant were increased, making the Chinese version of the mk9 have an 18-inch slender body and Greater destructive power and range than the original mk9.

The parameters of the Chinese version of the improved 18-inch mk9 torpedo are as follows:

600yd

Warhead charge: tnt234kg

Power: Wet heating 4-cylinder combustion engine, Fuel: Methanol

The production of the prototype of the bc-18 attack bomber is expected to be completed within one month, the design can be finalized by the end of June, the first batch of 7 aircraft will be produced by the end of July, and the monthly production capacity will reach 24 by the end of the year. With the finalization and production of the two types of aircraft, the output of engines will become the top priority.

For the improvement of aluminum alloy parts, increasing the compression ratio, increasing the power, and reducing the weight of the domestic Eagle ix aircraft engine, Wang Zhu gave a timetable for the completion of the test and finalization in the third quarter of 1918. Before that, only imitation ones could be produced first. For Eagle VIII aircraft engines, the production capacity of imitation engines in early May will be around 5-50 units. By September, the monthly production of Eagle VIII engines is expected to reach 60-180 units.

The entire April of 1918 was a month of excitement for Chinese youth. Countless young people flocked to the recruiting points of the participating army in large and medium-sized cities in various provinces to sign up to join the army. Strict discipline and good work style, of course, generous treatment and high social status, all made joining the army and serving the country the most popular topic and occupation for Chinese youth in 1918.

The number of recruits enlisted in the Nanyuan Base Camp throughout April still reached as many as 8 supplementary brigades. With the arrival of a new batch of American reinforcements at the end of April, the reorganization and training of the participating troops began again in early May. A series of dazzling appointments It was sent again from the Ministry of the Army. This time, the unity in New Beiyang has become rock-solid. With China and Japan already forming an alliance, and now that China has almost regained all the lost ground, no one dares to act like Zhao Ti, the governor of Henan last year. Say no to Zhong Yang like that!

On May 20, the Ministry of the Army announced that Zhang Xun would be removed from the titles of Anhui Governor and Yangtze River Patrol Envoy, and that he would be transferred to the General's Palace for another appointment. Ni Sichong was appointed as the governor of Anhui.

On May 20th, based on the Lu Zhonglin Brigade of the 21th Brigade of the [-]th Division of the Participating Army in Shandong, the Ministry of the Army added a supplementary brigade from Nanyuan, together with the original Zhang Xun troops reorganized by Ni Sichong, to form the No. .[-] Division [-], with Lu Zhonglin as the commander of the [-] Division, was promoted to Lieutenant General, and served as Xuzhou Town Guard, stationed in Xuzhou.At the same time, Wang Geng added a brigade of recruits to Guo Songling in Shandong.

On May 20th, the Ministry of the Army ordered that Li Chun, the warlord of Jiangsu, transfer to the Beijing army as the chief of staff, Zhang Zuolin, the chief of staff of the army, was the patrol envoy of the Yangtze River and the warlord of Jiangsu. After a supplementary brigade sent by Nanyuan, it was reorganized and reorganized into the No. [-] Second Division of the participating army. Zhang Zuolin served as the division commander and was stationed in Nanjing.

On May 20th, the Ministry of the Army ordered that Lu Yongxiang, the envoy of the Songhu Protectorate, be transferred to Beijing Nanyuan as the Deputy Chief of Staff of the General Staff Headquarters, and his former Army Tenth Division plus a Nanyuan Supplementary Brigade would be reorganized into the No. 20 Third Division of the Participating Army , with Jin Yunpeng, the head of the teaching regiment of the participating army, as the commander of the No.[-] Third Division, and also the Songhu Protectorate, stationed in Shanghai.